Chapter 7
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The Bikini Bottom News Team and police helicopters surrounded the laboratory of Walter Bass, who had just been taken into custody.
Perch Perkins delivered the report of the year.
"This just in, Bikini Bottom scientist Dr. Walter Bass was arrested today, following a conspiracy to commit mass murder via an airborne virus. Dr. Bass was found guilty having just confessed, and was taken to a maximum security cell. The virus has not been quarantined yet, but we can assure you, it could blow at any given time.."
Elaine, the realistic male fish-head news anchor, delievered the final message.
"You heard it here, first. The C.O.V.D. is poised to leak through at any minute. This terrorist may have been captured, but his mission was complete. What will become of our fair city, only time will tell."
Everyone was in a state of mass hysteria for weeks on end following the report.
At the Barg'n' Mart, the stores were shelved with every kind of pill, medicine, and immune support in the country. All the citizens were told to hoard as many groceries as they could.
At the Krusty Krab, the hard-shelled manager remained as stoic as ever.
"Ah, you lemons! Afraid of a little virus? I'll have you know back in the navy, I contracted scallop fever for 2 months serving on the S.S. Diarrhea. And no, it wasn't from sneaking four spoonfuls' taste of me batter!"
SpongeBob still couldn't believe what happened to Gary.
"What's wrong, me boy? Still upset over your little sneigel?"
The sponge replied, "Yeah. But I couldn't help but wonder why MY snail was the one who was targeted."
Krabs tried to console him.
"Don't blame yourself, lad. We're all poised to leave this earth sometime."
Squidward tried desparately to break the tension.
"Um, excuse me. It's great that you captured some nobody scientist, but shouldn't you be looking out for oh... I don't know... PLANKTON?! Not that I personally care."
Krabs gasped.
"You're right! Imagine what he could be doing with that recipe. He... he could be... READING it! In fact, I believe that little microbe was in on the conspiracy, knowing that we'll be too scared to interfere."
SpongeBob responded, "Well if we don't want to get infected, shouldn't we wear protective equipment?"
Krabs's brain lit up.
"You're right! Follow me!"
He led his employees to a room where three HAZMAT suits, just their shape and size were stored in a hidden room behind Krabs' office chair.
Squidward looked skeptical.
"And you just happened to have those with you... the whole time?"
"I mainly use them before checking the grease traps.", Krabs replied.
"Now let's go steal back that recipe!"
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At the Chum Bucket, Plankton had already donned a HAZMAT suit of his own.
"Well, Karen. Now that I'm free to resume my business, I might as well take a look at that recipe!"
He opened his copy of the recipe and began reading.
"Let's see... The recipe for one Krabby Patty is..."
He stopped himself.
"Wait a minute. This is too easy, like I'm in some sort of dream."
He slapped himself many times and discovered he was awake.
"Well, I guess I should just unravel it very slowly and call the universe's bluff on this."
"Sooooo farrrrr sooooo..."
*poof*
The amoeba stood there with his one eye shrunken in.
"Well I guess I can make it again with my trusty-"
*poof* There went the duplicator ray.
He was about to scream his usual "NOOOOOOO!", but his rationalizing side took over and realized he could just make a new recipe.
So saying, Plankton hurried over to Karen's bigger screen and went on the Internet.
"Let's see. How... to... make..."
Just then, a news break started on one of his searches.
It was at the Bikini Bottom Penitentiary. Searchlights were flooding the walls, a K9 unit sniffed out any remains of an escaped prisoner, and armed guards patrolled the area.
The amoeba was sure he knew who escaped, but he moved the cursor and clicked on a later part to make sure.
"...eco-terrorist Walter Bass has made a sudden escape from the Bikini Bottom Penitentiary today. Police and forensic investigators are baffled on the prisoner's method and whereabouts."
Officers Bruce and Nancy were then interviewed.
"Well Perch, we've ransacked Dr. Bass's laboratory and found the source of the virus. It was in a giant sphere labeled COVD. Among the other inventions were a duplicator ray, a scallop tank, and a bio-mechanical android maker which was also revealed to have been the birth-place of 'The Player', the infamous vigilante. We'd have been there sooner if our GPS hadn't screwed up."
Suddenly, Krabs and SpongeBob burst in with their usual Krabs vs. Plankton/get the formula chase.
"Aha! Thought you could pull a fast on me, Plankton? Help us out only to go back to your thieving ways?"
Plankton stopped him and rewound the video.
The forensic team was seen searching the prison and found nothing.
Never was there any shovels, spoons, drills, missing concrete, or even patted down dirt.
"It's like he disappeared into thin air.", SpongeBob exclaimed.
The amoeba paused for a minute.
"Thin... air. Just like the formula. Maybe... maybe that wasn't the real Walter Bass."
Krabs thought for a moment.
"Wait a second, Plankton! What does your duplicator ray actually do?"
"Um, it can duplicate things. Oh, the way it works is you actually scan the item so it can be saved and duplicated in another place. You can actually select where, too. But the downside, big surprise, is that the duplicate disappears after about a month or two."
Mr. Krabs thought he heard something when he stood by the Chum Bucket's lab door.
"Play that back, please!"
The amoeba panned the cursor to the left.
(click)
"We'd have been there sooner if our GPS hadn't screwed up."
Krabs spoke up again.
"Do you remember when we went to Dr. Bass's laboratory? It showed the lab on the left on the GPS, but there was nothing there."
"Plankton, can your duplicator get rid of the original material?"
He responded, "No, it can't. It just scans it. You think somebody buried it?"
"More like somebody, somebody, and somebody again!", Krabs replied.
SpongeBob had a defiant look on his face.
"Let's roll.", he quietly said.
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Soon after, the daring threesome drove once again to the Bass laboratory.
"All right. Catch us up to speed.", SpongeBob demanded.
"Well, about a month ago, it was our usual shenanigans. Plankton and I about to fight over me recipe, having just recieved some new security drones. Then I went and called The Player on me shell-phone."
"Then he burst into the Chum Bucket, put me to sleep, and deactivated my cameras so he could steal my duplicator ray. He also copied it so I wouldn't notice it was missing. We found out he was up to something, so we lured him down here.", Plankton added.
Krabs spoke again.
"We fought him off then realized he was a robot. Then we found out Bass invented him, and we found his lab with all the devices he used to build his machine and poison your sniegel, as in all the DUPLICATED devices."
"And just now we heard on the news of his disappearance, as well as the real lab if I'm not mistaken.", he finished.
The GPS stopped at the place where Bass's laboratory was shown to be.
"This is it. Get out of the car!"
The boat rolled to a stop and our investigators got out to examine any signs of a theft.
SpongeBob asked, "You don't suppose someone could've buried it?"
"That idea seems plausible, but does it hold up?", Krabs responded.
The sponge put his ear-hole to the ground.
"Listen. I hear a lot of machinery sounds. This must be it!"
Krabs perked up and his commanding side took over.
"C'mon. What are you waiting for? Dig! Dig!"
He got the shovels and drills he had been saving for this exact moment, ordering everyone to move as fast as they could.
"C'mon, boys! Dig! Dig! Dig dig dig dig dig dig!", he ordered for a good four hours.
*CLANK*
SpongeBob called up to him, "I think we found a door."
"Well is there any way you can dig a diagonal tunnel up to me so we can get back up?"
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After thirty minutes of alternating their shovels and following each other thanks to Plankton's electronic compass, they managed to meet at the halfway point.
Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob then returned to the underground laboratory where Plankton was waiting.
They could see that the door was jimmied open. Somebody had broke in.
As they entered the lab, the investigators scanned the place for any suspicious activity.
They saw many inventions, including infared goggles, an invisibility ray, a microscope, and various beakers and chemicals, but strangely enough no virus chamber.
The trio then pulled up the computer thanks to Plankton's password abilities, and it happened to open up to a blueprint for a bio-mechincal scuba diver, as well as instructions for chemical weapons and information on mental stimuli.
A search was then held for the missing duplicator ray. It was found in a nearby trash bin.
"Guess our boy must've forgot to get rid of everything.", Krabs cackled to lighten the mood.
SpongeBob could then make out a horrific smell, worse than his peanut-onion sundae.
"Barnacles, what is that stench?"
Plankton replied, "I think it's coming from behind this door."
The team slowly made their way to the broom closet, then opened the door expecting something.
And they did.
It was Walter Bass on the floor with a dry, bleeding head wound.
He was dead.