Chapter 23: The Victory
Calvin peered his eyes open, and slowly got up, with his body aching hard. A quick glance around made it quickly clear for him that he was now stuck in the middle of nowhere in a arid wasteland. He then noticed Hobbes had been knocked unconscious.
"Hey Hobbes! Hobbessss... Wake up you fleabag!" Calvin grumbled as he shook Hobbes, to no avail.
Calvin grumbled for a moment, before he realized that there was an easy way to wake up his tiger accomplice.
"Oh boy! I can't believe that there's a can of tuna just waiting to be opened! I wonder if Hobbes would want it!"
At that very instant, Hobbes immediately woke up and jumped up. But then after looking around in every corner he realized that he had been duped.
"Normally I'd give you a good pouncing, but I'm aching too much right now to do so." Hobbes said slightly annoyed.
"Aren't we all furball, aren't we all. We have bigger fish to fry right now as you can see." Calvin responded back.
"I suppose you do have a point." Hobbes conceded as he looked around the wasteland, "Do you remember anything from that explosion?" he asked to Calvin.
"Everything turned bright just as we cleared the ship." Calvin responded, I'd be surprised if there's anything left of it."
"Oh, there's plenty of it all right." Hobbes responded.
"How do you know?" Calvin questioned.
Hobbes pointed straight ahead, Calvin turned around to see a giant heap of rubble with a few flames from what was the Doomsday Ship.
"I think its safe to say that there were no survivors." Calvin remarked.
"I wouldn't say that exactly." Stupendous Man said as he flied in. Spaceman Spiff landed his ship with Tracer Bullet in tow.
"You guys survived? I'm impressed." Tracer Bullet remarked.
"Well nice of you guys to help us escape!" Calvin quickly shot back.
"My stupendous strength can only carry so many people." Stupendous Man said defensively.
"Hey, at least they helped take down that robot." Hobbes pointed out.
"I suppose..." Calvin conceded, "Y'know, I don't think I say this as much as I should to people who help me out, but thanks. Thank you guys for helping us bring down those freaks, we honestly couldn't have done it without you guys.
"All in a days work I suppose." Spaceman Spiff replied.
"It was definitely a change in pace, but I like that every once in a while." Tracer Bullet commented.
"It wasn't easy, but with our stupendous powers, we came out on top!" Stupendous Man added in.
"Do you have to add 'stupendous' somewhere in every sentence you speak?" Hobbes asked to Stupendous Man.
"They don't call him Stupendous Man for nothing." Tracer Bullet pointed out.
They all laughed in agreement.
The egos then looked over at all the rubble.
"Well, looks like our work here is done." Spaceman Spiff remarked.
"Yeah, looks like its time we head out." Tracer Bullet said in agreement.
"Head out?!" Calvin exclaimed, "You do realize that if you guys leave, Hobbes and I are gonna be stuck here, right?!"
"Relax Calvin." Tracer Bullet said reassuringly as he and Spiff hopped in Spiff's spaceship, "You're gonna have a lot on your hands with this mess to begin with, and considering our existence and whatnot, we don't want people to question reality as they know it."
"You mean we don't already?" Hobbes said confused.
"Don't worry about it!" Stupendous Man said, "I'm sure we'll all cross paths again soon, and we can be sure of that. But for now, I'd say its time we reach for the skies, huh guys?"
The other two alter-egos nodded.
"With Stupendous Strength, UP! UP! AND AWAYYYY!" Stupendous Man yelled as he flied back into the air and flew off, with Spaceman Spiff's ship close behind.
Calvin and Hobbes watched until they were out of sight.
"So what's the next course of action?" Hobbes asked.
"Well, first we need to find the box. Then we need to figure out a way to report this to the authorities." Calvin responded.
Then, Calvin and Hobbes came upon the box, slightly charred in some areas but still in one piece.
"I'm surprised that the box is still in one piece considering all that its been through." Hobbes remarked.
"Its a corrugated cardboard box, what did you expect?" Calvin replied back as he grabbed the box.
Upon grabbing it, the two were shocked to see Cooper lying on the ground in pain.
Cooper looked up, and gasped to see the two looking at him.
"Listen buddy, relax! Before you try and ship us off to some secret prison or whatever, maybe you should let us explain this whole uh... escapade, or, thingamabob." Calvin said to Cooper.
"Kid, I'm gonna be honest with you..." Cooper said as he sat up, "I've gone through a lot of crazy stuff while working with the FBI, and this certainly takes the cake. I'm probably gonna be questioning stuff from this alone for a long time. I sure as heck didn't know what was going on, I'm not sure if that was all reality or not."
"Oh, it was real alright." Hobbes replied.
"But, aren't you just a guy in a-"
"No, I'm actually a tiger. Most people just see me as a stuffed animal of Calvin's."
"But, you talk, and...and... y'know in theory that isn't the craziest thing... With the whole weird spaceship thing, and being in space, the robot..."
"Why don't you let us explain it all, provided that you ensure that you don't try shipping us off anywhere." Calvin said.
"I'm just gonna go out on a limb that whoever was in that space thing was behind all this mess. Don't fret it." Cooper said, "But first, I'm gonna call this in so we can get the crews out here, and get you reunited with your family as well." He said as he pulled out his phone.
"Dang it, now I'm actually gonna have to go back to having structure in my day." Calvin grumbled.
"What structure? All you've done is goof off since school got out!" Hobbes pointed out.
"Come on Hobbes! Didn't you enjoy having no parental supervision?!" Calvin shot back.
"It probably would've prevented us from getting killed several times, but I digress." Hobbes replied back.
Calvin opened his mouth, but then decided against speaking, and grumbled something to himself. Cooper gave a slight chuckle while he waiting for someone to pick up.
"Its Cooper. We've got them."
An hour later, the once deserted landscape had quickly become a hotspot for the police, the FBI, the CIA, and several other government agencies. Who were working through the wreckage.
A group of FBI agents were sifting through the wreckage when one of them noticed a giant hunk of metal moving.
"Hey guys? I think there might be something under here!" One of the agents called out.
The rest of the agents gathered around and drew their guns, ready to fire. The hunk of metal continued to move, and the agents began to wonder what could possibly be under it.
Then without warning, Duplicates 3 through 6 popped out from underneath the metal.
"Blegh! Finally we're free from that metallic prison!" Duplicate 4 remarked.
"Tell me about it... But I still can't believe that we actually lost! Like come on, all that hard work only to for this to happen. Could this possibly get any worse?!" Duplicate 6 complained.
"Oh, its only going to continue to go down from here boys..." The agent remarked. The duplicates looked up at the FBI agents staring down at them.
Calvin and Hobbes looked onward as the duplicates were handcuffed and hauled into a paddy wagon.
"Hope you enjoy prison food dopes! Don't worry, its slightly better than what they serve at school!" Calvin called out to them.
"You won't get away with this Calvin! We'll be back, and we'll get you AND your tiger friend! You two are gonna regret ever messing with us!" Duplicate 5 yelled as he was thrown into the paddy wagon.
"Yeah! You guys just got lucky!" Duplicate 3 yelled in agreement as he was thrown in as well.
"It seems that they have a flawed perception of what's considered 'luck'." Hobbes remarked as an officer slammed the door shut on the paddy wagon.
The duplicates continued to yell at the two as the paddy wagon began to drive off, to which Calvin and Hobbes responded by making goofy faces at them until the paddy wagon was out of sight.
"It brings me great joy that photocopies of myself are going to get their just deserts." Calvin remarked as he wiped a tear from his eye.
"Well that's all good and dandy, but what about that first duplicate? And those henchmen? As well as Moe and Dr. Scientist?" Hobbes questioned.
"Relax fleabag." Calvin responded, "Duplicate 2 and those dimwitted assistants are likely dead somewhere in the arctic. Moe and Dr. Scientist probably got crushed to death or something."
Before Hobbes could respond, Cooper came up to them, carrying Moe by his shirt collar.
"This chump look familiar at all to you two?" Cooper asked as he showcased Moe to the duo.
"Chump?! I can beat you and twinky and his silly tiger any day of the week!" Moe protested as he attempted to break free from Cooper's grip.
"Now, now Moe..." Calvin said chuckling, "We both know that's a false statement. For one, this guy is literally holding you. For two, Hobbes and I both beat you at your own game. Send him to the slammer!"
Cooper nodded, and began taking Moe to another paddy wagon.
"I'll get you for this twinky! I've still beat you up more times than you have me! I'll get out of this mess! And when I do, you're gonna be in for the walloping of a LIFETIME! YOU HEAR ME? A LIFETIME!" Moe yelled as Cooper threw him into the paddy wagon and shut the door.
"Ironic he says lifetime when he'll likely be spending that in a prison cell." Hobbes commented. Calvin chuckled in agreement as the two fist-bumped.
Just then, a black van pulled up to the scene, and headed in the direction of Calvin and Hobbes.
Calvin and Hobbes noticed this and exchanged confused looks as the van pulled up near them and stopped.
The doors opened, Chief Jerry and Agent Barnes got out of the front seats.
"Do we know those two?" Hobbes asked to Calvin, to which Calvin shaked his head in reply.
Then, out of the backseats, Calvin's Parents came out.
"CALVIN!" Mom and Dad both exclaimed as they ran up to Calvin and hugged.
"Gah! Alright I get it, you were worried sick about me! At least give me some space to breathe!" Calvin grumbled as he tried to break free from his parents.
"Oh Calvin, you don't even know how scared we were!" Mom exclaimed.
"Your mother and I had several mid-life crises while you were gone." Dad said in agreement.
"We're just happy that you're alive." Mom added in.
"Alive?! I barely got hurt and I was going all over the world, not to mention space! I never once came close to dying!" Calvin exclaimed in annoyance.
"That's a big fat lie." Hobbes said rolling his eyes.
At long last, Mom and Dad put Calvin down.
"So I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you two have several questions." Calvin said to his parents.
"I think that goes without saying." Dad remarked.
"I can't keep count of everything... The tiger thing, the duplicates, just... everything." Mom said.
"Well it was a wild ride, that's for sure. You thank those bozos from the FBI for causing that stupid manhunt against me!" Calvin commented.
Jerry and Barnes heard this and went over to Calvin.
"Well son..." Jerry began, "I guess the first thing I can really say is on behalf of everyone... that we're sorry. Granted, we're still confused about this whole mess with all those clones of you and stuff. But from what I've been told, them and a few others were behind everything."
"We had a lot of conflicting sources on the matter and as things got more elaborate it just complicated things further." Barnes added in.
"Well, it didn't really matter in the end considering that Hobbes and I took down all those fools and saved the world!" Calvin said proudly.
"Who's Hobbes again?" Jerry asked confused.
Everyone looked to see a stuffed tiger right beside Calvin.
"You really expect us to believe that a stuffed tiger helped you on your crazy escapade?" Barnes remarked bemused.
"Of course I do you moron! You should've seen how he mauled those freaks! Not to mention he's pretty good driving a Ferrari!" Calvin exclaimed.
The four adults stared at Calvin with blank expressions on their faces.
"Of course..." Barnes said while faking a cough, "I guess that could explain a thing or two... But honestly does anyone really know what's going on?"
"I don't think anyone does at this point..." Mom replied.
Just then, from the rubble nearby, a heavily disheveled Dr. Scientist appeared.
"YOU!" Dr. Scientist yelled as he started limping his way towards Calvin, "You think you've gotten away with it haven't ya? But I'm still here! And now, I'm gonna start what I should've finished a long time ago!" He remarked as he pulled a heavily damaged ray gun out.
Unfortunately for Dr. Scientist, he was quickly disarmed and tackled by several agents and handcuffed.
"Well, well, well..." Jerry remarked as he walked up to Dr. Scientist, "Murdoch Scientist... We've been looking for you for quite sometime now."
"That's DOCTOR Murdoch Scientist to you Jerry!" Dr. Scientist retorted.
"You know, for someone who claims to be so smart, you should've made quick work of that kid and his stuffed animal." Jerry responded.
"Oh shut up! I had the world taken over! But then those stupid duplicates of his kept complicating things and gave him an easy victory!" Dr. Scientist refuted.
"Excuses as always from you. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to think of more to spew at us while you're incarcerated. Take him away boys!" Jerry said as he snapped his fingers and walked away.
"I'LL GET YOU CALVIN! AND YOUR TIGER TOO! YOU MAY HAVE WON THE BATTLE, BUT I WILL WIN THE WAR!" Dr. Scientist screamed as he was thrown into the patty wagon with Moe, and it drove off.
After the patty wagon was out of sight, Jerry turned to Calvin.
"Son, do you have any idea of what you just did?" Jerry asked to him.
"I saved the world! Everyone knows that! Now where's my ticker tape parade and my national holiday?!" Calvin responded.
"That's our Calvin alright." Dad remarked.
"Right... But besides that, you and uh, Hobbes managed to apprehend Murdoch Scientist, an international fugitive that's been wanted for a litany of crimes, including, but not limited to: crimes against humanity, war crimes, terrorism, and the like." Jerry explained.
"I mean that guy was a wacko, so I'm not really surprised." Calvin responded back.
Everyone laughed at Calvin's remark.
"Well, I better get with Cooper and see what we can gather from all this." Jerry remarked as he looked at all the rubble.
"Can we get something to eat? Hobbes and I are starving." Calvin asked to the adults.
"Yes. Barnes, take these folks and get them something to eat, I'll stay back." Jerry directed.
"On it. Pizza sound good?" Barnes asked as they headed to the van.
"I'm always up for some pizza, just make sure there isn't any anchovies for the furball to steal." Calvin remarked as they piled in the van and headed off.
Jerry watched as the van drove away, before turning and walking over to where Cooper was, and gave him a pat on the back.
"Excellent work as always Cooper." Jerry commented.
"Chief, I gotta tell ya, I don't even understand what I went through trying to get that kid, only to realize we really weren't after him at all." Cooper remarked.
"Honestly, none of us fully understand it." Jerry chuckled, "It'll be a long investigation for sure. But hopefully by the end, we'll understand it better."
"Did you meet the kid's tiger?" Cooper asked.
"It was a stuffed animal this whole time." Jerry remarked bemused.
Cooper gave him an odd look and remarked, "I saw a life-like tiger."
"Come on Cooper, that Hobbes is just a toy of his." Jerry retorted.
"I don't know what you saw, but I saw a tiger that walks on two legs and talks. Then again, I was in space and saw a giant robot and crap... I don't know what's reality anymore..." Cooper replied.
"Honestly, I don't either." Jerry responded, "But the worst is behind us now right?"
"I would hope so..." Cooper responded.
"The only thing I'm hoping now, is that the media doesn't find out." Jerry remarked.
"The media? Chief, we're in the middle of nowhere, nobody is gonna find out about it." Cooper replied back.
"Yeah, good point. This is one thing we can finally keep confidential!" Jerry said happily as he and Cooper shared a laugh.
However, unbeknownst to them, a quiet, dark airship of some kind was hovering over them.
"Did we get those analyses yet?" Duplicate 2 asked to Rufus and Donald.
"Almost boss number two." Rufus replied.
"Yeah, just getting the last pieces from all the tiny objects on the ground." Donald added in.
"Excellent..." Duplicate 2 responded, "Then I can report this stuff back to our rescuer, and then it'll soon be our time to shine! AHAHAHA!" Duplicate 2 said as he developed into maniacal laughter, with Rufus and Donald joining in as well as the ship then flew off, unseen to everyone in the sky.