Chapter 10: Shattered Plans
A few days after Felix's addition to the ship found Heat ducking for cover around the corner of the ship's machinery. Gantu was spending the day in the ship and he had to check up on his phone in its hiding place; Sparky had been calling periodically for Hammerface about something, but wouldn't say what. It was weird; the subject of his and Sparky's talks seemed like a touchy subject for Hammerface, even though Heat was sure they were speaking about him.
He rummaged through the pile of blankets and pillowcase to grab at the small device in the experiments' room, frowning to himself. It didn't feel right that the two weren't including him in something that was about him, especially given how Sparky had reacted to the strange green flash that obscured his vision that day at the beach. Something very wrong was going on with him and he deserved to know.
Heat's thoughts were interrupted by the phone abruptly ringing in his hand, Sparky's number flashing on the light blue screen. Heat jumped and fumbled with the lid before hesitantly pressing the call button and holding it up to his ear; this time, hopefully, he'd try to push for some answers…
"Hey, Heat? You somewhere Fishface can't find you?" Sparky's voice sounded out from the phone. He was urgent as usual; he was always such until he made sure Heat was somewhere safe and away from Gantu.
"No-hold on." Heat glanced around before quickly diving behind the furthermost chair, making sure he was far from the door and out of the hearing range of Gantu. "Okay, I can talk now, so what's going on?"
"Hammerface again; I also heard 010's been around, so I want to talk about that too."
"Oh; okay…" Heat felt a small pang of disappointment well up in his chest at the words; sure, his chance wasn't over just yet, but it still felt wrong...
Sparky seemed to catch this from Heat's tone; he heard him sigh on the other end before continuing, "Look, Heat, what we're talking about is serious and...I dunno, I don't want you to be afraid."
"But I think I can handle it, it's just...why are you leaving us in the later series out? It's not fair if you're talking about us."
"I…"
"This is about me, isn't it? Well, I saw the green flash on the beach that day, so there's no point in hiding anything. I know something's going on, so why am I being left out?"
"Okay-Heat? My reasoning is just what I said before, okay? We're not normal experiments, and you conduct heat, not electricity, so I'm trying to figure out what's going on myself."
"Look," He paused, hearing silence from the other end, "I'm sorry, alright? I should've let you in earlier; I promise I'll tell you-and if I don't, then I'll tell Hammerface to tell you, okay? Is that a deal?"
"...Heat?"
More silence.
Sparky stared at the landline before asking again-then heard something he wished he hadn't.
"I'm sorry, Heat can't come to the phone anymore; but at least I now have your number, so it wasn't a complete waste in letting him out." Gantu's sarcastic voice crawled out from the receiver.
"I'm not scared of you, you fucking whale. Where's Heat?" He was lying-this was a total disaster. Sparky's head spun as he tried to think up a way to twist the situation back to his-and the experiments'-favor and fast.
"That's none of your business, 221, now what are you trying to gain from these? Heat's not coming with the little Earth girl and 626, so what's the point to this?"
Sparky paused, hearing a panicked Heat in the background; he sounded like he was struggling to get to the phone as Sparky could hear him crying to have it back. He had to think, think...
"Okay, you want my reason? Yeah?" He began, glowering at the phone; he had no idea what on Earth he was doing right now, but he had to try something at least…
"Yes. Do go on."
"Fine. Cloning incident."
"What about the cloning incident?"
"You think you got off free from that? Or how's this, you really think it hasn't affected those four you grabbed from the junk shop?"
And there it was. He almost immediately sensed Gantu's discomfort through the phone as the former Galactic Federation captain began to stutter.
"I-I don't what Heat told you but-"
"Oh Heat didn't need to tell you anything, I saw it for myself and he knows it. Hammerface told me things too."
Satisfaction rose up inside him upon hearing a long pause from the other end.
He finally heard Gantu sigh from the phone. "What do you want from me?"
"I dunno, don't tell ratface? That's about it."
"Fine."
"You'll also give Heat his phone back. And I'm coming over."
"Whatever."
Sparky could hear Gantu muttering something and giving the phone back to a sniffling Heat, whose voice cracked as he tried to compose himself. "I-I'm really sorry-I thought I was out of reach…"
"No, no it's not your fault Heat, I should've told you so this wouldn't happen. Just hang in there and wait for me to come over, alright?"
"Okay…"
Heat stared at the puddle he'd positioned himself above as the group of nine experiments and one alien waited outside for Sparky. He watched as silt swirled in the pool, gold flecks shimmering in the sunlight. His twin had once said these flecks were just pyrite in their few interactions back at the lab, but he guessed she hadn't seen them outside a lab setting; they looked pretty even surrounded by mud and bits of smashed up plants...unlike the icy stare at his back from a certain shark-like alien.
His thoughts were interrupted by Angel, who poked his face with a leaf she'd picked up from the edge of the clearing. "You okay? Everyone heard the crying from ya back there, so, you know…"
He shook his head and she groaned, plopping herself down on the rock next to him...and splashing water all over both of them in the process.
"Angel! Come on…" Heat evaporated the drops from his fur before crossing his arms at the song experiment. Angel shrugged, "Sorry, blubberbutt was staring at you so I had to break the tension. But...what is this Sparky's coming over for? And Hammerface's acting really weird." She pointed at the gray experiment, who was pacing back and forth, his expression as ice-cold as Gantu's. He turned to raise an eyebrow at the two for a moment before continuing in his path, Heat and Angel exchanging a glance as they watched him.
"I...well,-"
"Well, something's...something's going on. That I can say," Felix cut in, "It's-well, it's mostly for these four to say if they want to, I only just came into this so I don't have much to offer."
"Well I do." Plasmoid countered, "There was my migraine the other day to 625's crap food, I know Thresher's had some stuff with his knee, and Heat, well-I haven't seen anything, but Hammerface and Sparky are acting fucking weird about it like you said."
"With me, I dunno what it is." Heat gazed at the water, watching the silt swirl around in the pool, "Everything turns green and stuff...happens when that's a thing. Sparky looked really freaked out from it and I don't know why…"
"Turns green? Oh shit-Heat I've been seeing that too! Not the green, but from you-I always thought it was the TV when it happened; you know, like how human eyes can turn red on camera." Now Angel looked similar to Sparky and even Plasmoid was staring at him in apprehension.
Gantu quickly interrupted before any of the experiments could continue, "That's enough; I want you all to be quiet until 221 appears. I didn't lock up the ship to hear a drama show between trogs."
"You created this show, you miserable toad." Fudgy snapped, "This is entirely because you didn't read about 344's powers."
"I wish you were 611."
"And I wish you would fuck back off into space for good, you piece of-"
'Yeah, okay, I think that's enough." A yellow streak shot into view, cutting off the growing argument between Gantu and Fudgy...followed by none other than Clip and Jumba, the latter carrying several small bags.
Jumba eyed Gantu suspiciously as Sparky lighted down in front of him and Clip, who stared stonily off to the side of the clearing, "Did not be expecting to see you this soon, but I suppose now is being better than never. I assume we aren't being watched, correct?"
Gantu stared at the group of free experiments and their creator stiffly, "...Yes."
"Good. I'm sure you are being aware you have messed up. Big time. And now we must find out the extent of the damage you have done." Jumba turned and nodded to Clip, who stepped forward and unsheathed her claws, "Okay, Heat, ugh...33? I'm gonna slice off some hair. It's weird, but it's for analysis, so don't be too freaked out by it."
Hammerface refused to move, instead gesturing to Heat to walk towards the hairball experiment. He hesitated, but was met with a warm smile from Clip as she outstretched her hand and slightly sheathed said claws, "Hey, I don't bite-I can tell you've got long fur like me, so it's going to be easy to get a sample, alright? Just head on over so I can move on to Hammer."
"Okay…" Heat quietly made his way over to the smaller experiment, who took his wrist and carefully held up a piece of fur, slicing it off and dropping it in one of the bags.
Clip watched Heat trudge off, head slightly hanging; she couldn't stand to see this, it was terrible-Heat shouldn't be worrying about anything like this, much less having to deal with it...that was before a familiar gray shape solemnly stepped into view off to her right.
He hadn't changed, and yet he looked like he'd aged a million years; she swore she could see some white hairs sticking out around his face. Hammerface was still young, even if he was one of the older experiments; she felt a pang in her throat and tried forcing it down, seeing he was doing much the same…
...But both of them were failing. They always did, but not usually in front of everyone else.
Hammerface wordlessly stood next to her and held out his arm. She hesitated, then took his wrist and squeezed his hand, causing him to jerk back, eyes watering. "Don't-they're looking."
"I know." Her words sounded so distant she barely recognized them as hers, placing his sample in the bag and quickly turning back towards the others, seeing as they were finishing up themselves, Jumba patting a nervous Thresher on the back of the head as he deposited the final swab into a bag. "Alright, not to worry 544, is being done and over with. We will be getting to the bottom of this by tonight, okay?"
The purple experiment nodded, eyestalks watching the ground as always. Jumba's face fell slightly upon seeing he'd failed to comfort him. He sighed and stood up, nodding to the two free experiments, "221 and 177? You can leave when you want, I will be going back to the ship and analyzing these immediately."
"Yeah, we'll be right behind you." Sparky said, waving to his creator as he walked out of the clearing in the direction of the house. "Aaaannnddd before I head out, here, for you." He turned and glared at Gantu, bringing up his middle finger, "Don't even try tracking me to my lighthouse if you know what's good for you. And quit manhandling everyone you caught; I didn't like what I heard when you took the phone."
"You don't live here 221."
"No, but I sure can pay you a visit, can I?"
Gantu glowered at Sparky, then Clip. It was odd the two had stayed behind for this long, and 177's slip of grasping Hammerface's hand had given away something...interesting about the two of them. Not that he'd let it show right now-he needed an opening to trap Hammerface, but that action-and Sparky's apparent concern for Heat, could mean an opportunity to gain back some control in this situation. He crossed his arms at Sparky in irritation, "Alright, fine, I'm not going to pick them up anymore. Now get out."
Clip and Sparky took their leave, the former muttering a curse at him as they did so. He turned his gaze towards the captured experiments, who were clustering together off to the side of the clearing.
"We're heading back inside. Now." He said, unlocking the door to the ship, "I'm going out later to get your results, and I don't want to hear any complaints about it."
"And what makes you say that? What are you going to do with them once you get 'em?"
"That'll depend on your behavior."
"Oh really? I would've thought you gave a shit about your job."
Gantu turned back and for the first time since he'd gotten him, smiled at Hammerface. Not a kind smile, it felt like a cross between a smirk and a grimace, and he felt a twinge of satisfaction as he saw the tool experiment finally-and rightfully-take a nervous step back from him.
"Wouldn't want to disappoint 177, would you?"
